Nile – Page 8 – Wonderbox Metal

Beyond Mortal Dreams – Lamia (Review)

Death Metal – this is the latest EP from Australia’s Beyond Mortal Dreams.

Having previously heard their very enjoyable Dreaming Death EP I stated at the time that I couldn’t wait to hear more from them. Well here we have it, albeit only a taster. Two tracks in just under 9 minutes.

The first song Lamia is a new one. It rolls out of the speakers like a steamroller and flattens everything. There’s a older-Nile vibe to this track; a sort of atmospheric brutality that sounds like it’s being filtered out through a black hole. Quality stuff. Hopefully this bodes well for the next album…

The second track Demonsword Infernal is new version of a song from their The Demon and the Tree of the Dead demo. I haven’t heard the original but this version is a top quality rhythmic pulser with dark melodies and swirling riffs.

Beyond Mortal Dreams have delivered the goods again. Only next time we want, nay, we demand, more!

Beyond Mortal Dreams – Dreaming Death (Review)

Beyond Mortal Dreams are an Australian Death Metal band treading their own path on their own terms with this 18 minute, 4 track EP.

Three original songs and a Beherit cover are what we get, and this EP is over far too quickly as Beyond Mortal Dreams deliver the goods.

And those lead guitars! I love a good solo and there’s plenty of fretwork on these songs to keep me happy. The guitars generally are both aggressive and atmospheric, in the way that Nile manage so effortlessly; yet also take aspects of bands like Immolation. These are the bands that are not just concerned with aural bludgeoning, but who are also interested in immersing the listener in the mood of the song as well.

The drums form the bedrock on which everything else is built and it’s clear that the drummer is not human but rather some form of multi-armed cyber-mutation that’s been programmed to pound skins for all it’s worth. Impressive stuff.

This EP is a fantastic listen and I can’t wait to hear more from them in the future.

Colosso – Abrasive Peace (Review)

The music is state-of-the-art bleeding-edge Extreme Metal, but the vocals are pure Death Metal; powerful and going straight for the throat. Colosso combine the best parts of bands like Behemoth and Nile, add a sprinkling of cyber-Metal akin to Fear Factory at their heaviest, and cap it off with focused brutality.

The songs tear themselves out of the speakers with razor sharp claws and venomous fangs ready to slay everyone in sight. This is music not to be messed with. The album boasts a thoroughly modern production and sound, and all of the benefits that 21st century technology can offer. In fact this is a perfectly judged combination of technological and traditional Metal – rather than swamping the metal with bleeps and break-beats to create some hybrid that is neither techno nor Metal, here the cyber-Metal influences serve to merely accentuate the relevant parts of the songs, while the very Metal guitars, drums and vocals take centre stage.

Eight tracks of thundering Metal later and the album is done. Oh, apart from the obligatory throwaway techno-Metal remix track of course, which does somewhat dilute the essence of the main album by being a rather poor closure after the last track proper has faded away. Nonetheless, this is a minor quibble in what is otherwise an exemplary album and a perfect example of what modern Extreme/Death Metal should sound like in 2013.

As a side-note there is also an instrumental version of this album out there named Peaceful Abrasiveness. That should tell you a lot about the quality of the music here and its ability to stand alone. And with the vocals added…well, that just makes it even better.

Lykathea Aflame – Elvenefris

An older album here from 2000. This is excellent, atmospheric, (but still with plenty of brutality), death metal with an Egyptian theme. Now, this may immediately bring to mind Nile, but rest assured that this band are not copying and they sound wholly themselves, at least as much as any band does anyway.

Songs are well constructed and generally of the longer length, which gives the band ample room to explore their art. A good production and sound tops it all off, and there is some exceptional musicianship on display also.

I heartily recommend this album and think it is somewhat of a lost classic.

Apparently the band are still together, but this the only release that I am aware of. Do yourself a favour and track down a copy of this album – you won’t regret it.